IATA says hooray and urges other APAC states to follow suit
AS Singapore reaches almost 80% vaccination rate, the doors are creaking open and IATA (International Air Transport Association) was the first to applaud the opening of quarantine-free travel lanes from Germany and Brunei and urged other Asia Pacific states to take similar steps.
It will be the first time the 5.5 million residents of this city state can go for quarantine-free leisure travel since the closing of borders in March 2020.
“Singapore’s announcement is a positive step in the right direction. We understand the need for a cautious approach, and look forward to seeing further lifting of quarantine requirements. This will help with the recovery of the aviation and tourism sectors,” said Conrad Clifford, IATA’s deputy director general.
Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of Wego, said, “SHN free travel for vaccinated travellers arriving from all but the riskiest of countries needs to become the new normal. I applaud this cautious first step by the Singapore government and hope this approach is quickly extended to many more countries.”
From September 8, fully vaccinated residents can travel to Germany and back without having to serve stay-home notice (SHN). They will have to undergo four Covid-19 PCR tests, including one before the flight. Given Germany has already opened its borders to Singapore, it means travellers can travel both ways without quarantine.
Singapore Airlines, in a Bloomberg report, said it plans to operate vaccinated travel lane (VTL) flights from Frankfurt and Munich to Singapore from September 7. The same evening, its PPS members received an email, urging them to book the VTL flights, and laying out all the conditions of travel.
Singapore will also unilaterally lift all restrictions for inbound travellers from Macau and Hong Kong from August 26. This means that short-term visitors from these two cities, regardless of vaccination status, can enter Singapore without having to serve stay-home notice. They will have to undergo tests and have insurance.
However plans for a Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble, pursued since last year, will not go ahead given the differing strategies of both governments. While Singapore is going for an “endemic” strategy, Hong Kong is pursuing Covid-zero eradication path and indeed, re-tightened restrictions this month.
Restrictions will be eased for Singapore residents coming from Hong Kong and Macau from August 21, and further eased for visitors from the two places from August 26. They join New Zealand, most of mainland China and Taiwan as economies with the least entry restrictions to Singapore, or Category I on the city-state’s four-part list.
At a press briefing, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) director general Han Kok Juan said, “We always know that as a small open economy, Singapore needs to reconnect with the world, because that’s how we make a living as a country and how we connect with family and friends. The question has always been – how do we reconnect with the world cautiously, safely, in a step-by-step fashion without compromising public health?”
Singapore recognises Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty or Moderna vaccine, or other vaccines in the WHO Emergency Use Listing.
Said IATA’s Clifford, “It has been 1.5 years since the world closed its borders to international travel. A lot more is known today about COVID-19. Unfortunately many states in Asia Pacific continue to adopt a risk adverse zero-COVID approach, and continue to shut their borders. This is not sustainable and is detrimental to both their economies and their populations.
“We have seen moves around the world to reopen borders, allow international travel, and restarting their aviation and tourism sectors. Asia-Pacific risks being left behind.
“A data driven approach using vaccination and testing can manage the risk of COVID-19 when reopening borders to international travel. Singapore has shown leadership in demonstrating that it is safe to reopen international travel without quarantine. I hope other Asia Pacific states will take similar steps with their borders.”
Meanwhile, Expedia expects the announcement on the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) to be well received among vacation-deprived Singaporeans.
Lavinia Rajaram, APAC Head of Communications, Expedia Brand, said, “Our search trends have been growing month on month for the year-end holidays, an indication that the pent-up demand is growing. Our Q2 search results indicated a 60% increase in searches for international travel on Expedia.com.sg for travel in the second quarter of 2021 (Based on searches for hotels on Expedia.com.sg between April to June 2021, for the travel period of November 2021 to January 2022.)”
She added, “Our consumer research tells us that 71% of Singapore respondents feel overwhelmed by planning their next trip, with 42% agreeing that they are more overwhelmed when booking a trip post Covid-19 than they were before Covid-19.”
With this data in mind, Expedia recently launched its COVID-19 Travel Advisory Tool to help travellers get all their destination travel advisories, regulations, health and safety guidelines all in one place. It also introduced new Virtual Agent capabilities within the Expedia mobile app.
According to Expedia’s Travel Companions Report released in May this year, 44% of the Singapore respondents also said that their future travel is highly dependent on the success of vaccination. “Hence with the launch of the vaccinated travel lane scheme, this will surely bode well with those who are already vaccinated and have a desire to travel, and provide a much welcomed boost to the travel industry,” said Rajaram.
• Featured image credit – At last Singapore residents can say cheers in Munich without having to quarantine on return: Getty Images
